World Conquest Online

Lucius and Gan Ning quickly ran to the fallen Warrior, whilst Subutai shouted orders at the guards that were nearby to get either Hua Tou or Phoebe immediately. The family celebration quickly stopped as well as Da Qiao, her sister and father all looked at the fallen man who was lay on his front. Dom saw that Da Qiao’s eyes seemed to be questioning something, but Dom’s guards had stepped in to stop anyone else from approaching whilst Gan Ning and Lucius tried to help.

"I’m here, I’m here!" Dom heard Phoebe shouting as she exited the Town Centre. She had been inside with the others and Dom wondered what was actually happening inside his Town Centre. Beside her appeared Meritamen and Chanda. Chanda offered to take the new arrivals inside, but Da Qiao was firmly stood where she was.

Phoebe passed the guards and headed towards the fallen Warrior, with Dom following closely behind. Gan Ning was pressing some cloth to one of the Arrows, whilst Lucius was trying to talk to the Warrior.

"What has happened here?" Phoebe demanded as she got on her knees and began to check the Warrior over. Both Portals had disappeared now and Dom felt relieved for a moment that there was no more chaos on this chaotic morning.

"I was bringing in new Heroes and suddenly this man appeared and fell down." Dom explained, before realising he could check the Warriors identity himself. "System, show stats."

[Sun Ce

Hero Grade - B (High Potential)

Hero Strength - Little Conqueror and Fearless Warrior

Sun Ce, courtesy name Bofu, was the eldest son of the Warlord Sun Jian, and the eldest brother of the future Wu Emperor Sun Quan. Sun Jian died when Sun Ce was sixteen years old, and he had to take on the responsibility of managing the family, it’s land and it’s associated Warriors. He broke free from the local overlord Yuan Shu and created the foundation of the Eastern Wu State during the Three Kingdoms Period of the Late Han.

He began his career with a small group of militia that he gathered in his maternal uncles land, before joining the service of Yuan Shu. In the service of Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu often lamented that he didn’t have a son of Sun Ce’s Calibre. During his times fighting for Yuan Shu he attracted many capable officers, before breaking free of Yuan Shu’s control and striving for himself.

He encountered and prevailed in many battles against other Han Warlords, as well as southern tribes like the Shanyue. Before meeting his untimely death at the age of twenty four when former servants of a Official he defeated and executed, ambushed him on a hunting trip. He was known as being extremely fearless, as well as extremely ruthless to his enemies.]

"Sun Ce?" Dom exclaimed, remembering that he was one of the opportunities that Gan Ning had mentioned and also Da Qiao’s dead husband.

"Bofu?" Da Qiao screamed in shock when she heard Dom say his name out loud. She ran and tried to push passed the guards who politely tried to hold her back. Dom realised what he had done, but it was too late to cover it up now.

"I am sorry Lady Qiao." Gregorios explained gently, "I am unsure who that man is, but Lady Phoebe is doing everything she can to help."

"He’s my husband!" She shouted, trying to push past the normally jolly guard. "He’s supposed to be dead, let me pass!"

"Let her pass." Dom said from behind Gregorios, who followed his Lord’s command. Da Qiao quickly ran passed and got on her knees beside Phoebe who was trying to check of Sun Ce’s condition.

"He’s alive, his body is in shock and he has collapsed." Phoebe explained, "He should be fine when we wakes up, however we need to take him to the Clinic urgently. The Arrows in his back seem superficial as the armour has done it’s job. The one I worry about is the one in his cheek, if this isn’t removed properly he could die."

"What can we do to help?" Gan Ning asked, surprised by Sun Ce’s arrival, he had served his younger brother but was well aware of Sun Ce’s reputation.

"I need someone to get Hua Tou to prepare for surgery and I need him carrying to the Clinic." Phoebe ordered, as she stood up and grabbed two of the Forbidden Guard to get ready to carry him.

"Do as she says." Dom pressed, directing one of the other Guards to run towards the Clinic and pass on the message. Da Qiao held Sun Ce’s hand as he was carried and Dom began to follow them. He cast a look over the unconscious Hero and realised that his handsome looks did match with Da Qiao’s beauty as much as they were described.

"I’m sorry Da Qiao, this was supposed to be a positive reward and a day of celebration." Dom said to her as she began to pass him, tears fresh in her eyes.

"This is a reward, and it is a day of celebration." She exclaimed, a mixture of happiness and sadness in her eyes. "He has been dead for a couple of years, for him to be alive, even in this state, is a positive!"

Dom stopped walking and realised what she was saying, the Sun Ce that she was married to was dead, however this Sun Ce was alive still. They soon left and Gan Ning left with them, still wearing his flowers as he began to clear the way so that the guards had a simple route to get to the Clinic. Dom was left with Meritamen, Chanda, Lucius, Subutai and the Father and Daughter duo.

"I think it may be time to head inside." Chanda said politely, which Dom appreciated and he directed the newcomers to head inside.

The Town Centre was full of joyful people, who were making more flower garlands, similar to the ones that Gan Ning was reluctantly wearing earlier. Hatshepsut was at the front and directing people on how to make them with the florist Jacob. Tomyris was sat nearby and was chatting with Artemisia who seemed to be in deep conversation with the fellow Hero.

Dom directed the Father and Daughter duo to a table and took a seat with them. Meritamen and Lucius joined him, whilst Subutai headed towards Tomyris and Artemisia. Chanda had headed towards the front where the Head Maid Ban Jieyu was, to get some drinks and food for the newcomers.

"Sorry about all of that!" Qiao Guolao explained apologetically, "I believe my daughter had a lot of emotions taking place then. I think today has been a surprise for all of us."

"Just a few!" Xiao Qiao agreed, she was as beautiful as her sister and had a confident persona. "Sun Ce was there! He is supposed to be dead, I wish I could tell Gongjin, he would be so pleased."

"Gongjin?" Meritamen asked, intrigued by the newcomers.

"Sorry, my husband Zhou Yu, he and Sun Ce are the closest of friends." Xiao Qiao explained. "I hope that he makes it and they can be reunited as well."

"We have excellent Doctors here." Meritamen promised, "I am sure that he will be ok."

"He will be a huge asset to you if he does." Qiao Guolao explained proudly, "And he always repays his debts. I hope we can all be of help to you."

"So do we." Lucius replied, "Let me explain our situation to you."

...

Some time had passed and Riverside had finally calmed from the chaotic morning, Dom was stood on a small podium by the Calm River’s edge outside the Inner Wall, behind him the Bireme had anchored again in it’s original position, it’s crew now minimal as most of them were stood in front of Dom. Beside him Gu Kaizhi performed some music on his Zither, reminding Dom of the music he played to lure the Enemies in to Tongpai Town, Dom hoped that there were no similar surprises today.

In front of him stood the majority of the residents of Riverside, with the only ones missing either tasked with a part of the Celebration or in a key defensive position, either in Riverside or the Military Camp to the East. Dom passed his eyes out at over five thousand civilians, He first looked at some of his early Riverside’s daily spawns that stood near the front, the key members such as Lars, Helena and Wang Shu that had pushed the development of Riverside. He then passed his eyes further towards the Hittite prisoners that were rehomed after the battle of Kadesh, the six hundred or so of them had been a huge asset to Riverside, with most of the men joining the Navy, whilst the women became farmers, craftswomen or many of the other key roles in the growing City. He also noticed the three Xun’s stood near the front, their large family and villagers who accompanied them to Riverside behind them. Then there were the slaves that were either bought from the Xun Family Mission or from the City to the North by Crassus.

He finally turned to the former Tongpai Town residents, that made up around a third of Riverside’s population, at the front of them stood the Qiao family, with Da Qiao now back with them, a smile back on her face, having left Sun Ce in the capable hands of those at the Clinic. It had taken a lot of persuasion but she had been told that it was key that she was here for the beginning of the events, she could return when they started. Beside her stood the elite Villagers Thucydides and Zenodotus who had both been key in integrating the large Tongpai Town contingent.

At both flanks stood his Military, with their Centurions at the front. Dom felt it was time to add to his Centurion Units as the mass of Warriors massively outweighed the Commanders he had, mainly when he looked towards the Hoplite. The mass of different unit types spread back with easily over a thousand five hundred Warriors now standing in front of him. Their quality ranged, from the Hoplite, Spartans, Forbidden Guards and Legionaries, through to the Bandits, Mercenaries and Naval Forces. Beside them stood his Cavalry, who were not on horse back, and it was nice to see that the majority of his forces were currently dressed in more casual clothes and not armed, bar those that were still on duty. He could see the new arrivals such as Chariovalda and Actumerus stood with Banas, who was clearly the leader of the three as they stood slightly behind her.

In front of all of these were Dom’s Heroes, all dressed casually for the day, rather than in senior outfits as usual. Dom was relieved and amused to see that Lucius had somehow persuaded Shang Yang to wear a Roman Style Toga rather than his usual robes. Crassus looked ready to get involved with the celebrations himself, and Tomoe looked stunning in her casual clothes as usual, causing Dom to look away before Meritamen mentioned it to him. She stared at him proudly throughout as he prepared to speak.

Dom signalled for Gu Kaizhi to stop, who did so gladly and waited for Dom to speak. The silence was almost deafening to Dom as everyone watched him intently, waiting for their Lord to speak.

"Residents of Riverside!" Dom shouted loudly, so that his voice travelled throughout the crowd. He was sure those at the back wouldn’t hear him, but he hoped some of his message was conveyed. "Today, we celebrate our victory over the strange enemies that dared to threaten our future. Today we celebrate the last days of Riverside as a City, and the first days as a Kingdom!"

There were loud cheers and claps of hands as the residents of Riverside, both Warrior and Civilian cheered him as he opened his speech.

"We have gone through a lot together since our founding, where more and more of you have joined and helped us along our way. I hope our newest residents from Tongpai Town can fully integrate themselves in to our future Kingdom, and together we can create a home for ourselves and our children to come!" Dom exclaimed, relaying some of the key points that Shang Yang had whispered to him as they had headed towards the small podium that Dom was now stood on.

"We are expanding!" Dom continued, "Tomorrow we will launch two new Towns, and there will be opportunities for people to move to them and create their own fortunes. One Town will be at our Military Camp and will become the farming centre of our Kingdom, the second by the sea where we can become a mighty Maritime nation. You will all get the opportunity to move between the different Cities. It is our hope that everyone can work together to create a Kingdom that all those around us wish they could be part of. We will ensure to have medical care, food and security in all of these locations, so that you will have all of the tools to nurture and grow your families."

Dom waited for the cheering to calm down, as they cheered him again and again as he spoke.

"Shang Yang has outlined the Laws of Riverside, where every man and woman, regardless of rank or role will be treated the same under the law." Dom continued, "But today is about Celebration and our future. Today we will have competitions, our own Olympics! I will pass to my Wife Meritamen, who will explain."

There were even louder cheers when Dom handed it over to Meritamen, her charisma and beauty had won the hearts of all of the residents of Riverside and they looked towards her with excitement at what was going to happen today. Dom’s speech had gone down well, but what they really wanted was to hear Meritamen’s plans for the day.